World Food Programme calls for urgent diplomatic interventions as the second largest city in east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo falls to M23

The crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is escalating rapidly after M23 fighters took over Bukavu, the second-largest city in eastern DRC, just weeks after seizing Goma.

Looting has severely disrupted humanitarian operations, leaving over 450,000 people without shelter, food, or water.

The World Food Programme is calling for unhindered humanitarian access to ease these impossible pressures. But operations cannot resume at the scale needed with two warehouses in Goma looted and the loss of 9,000 metric tons, or 70 percent, of WFP’s food stock.

Across the DRC, the demand for emergency aid is rising fast, with 27 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Without a solution to the conflict in the eastern provinces, the humanitarian and displacement crisis will only deepen.

“Displaced people have not had assistance for six weeks,” said Shelley Thakral, WFP spokesperson in DRC. “This will impact their nutritional status and health. It is critical to bring food in – people are running out.”

Markets are collapsing under the strain. Nearly half of the shops remain closed, and a recent WFP market assessment found maize flour – one of the region’s staples – has risen in price by almost 70 per cent, with sharp increases also seen for salt and peanut oil.

Another critical factor is transport. Goma’s airport has been closed for more than two weeks, cutting off a vital humanitarian supply route. In 2024, the WFP-operated United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) made nearly 7,000 flights, transporting 44,000 people across 62 destinations, often bypassing damaged or blocked roads. 

But without additional funding, UNHAS services could be suspended beyond March 2025, jeopardizing life-saving humanitarian access across the country. WFP urgently requires US$33.1 million to continue operating.

“We need to intervene immediately, we need funding,” said Thakral.

As conditions worsen, women and girls face an increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation. Many are attacked while searching for firewood, and in extreme cases, some resort to survival sex just to feed their families. Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable.

“Putting food in the hands of women and providing them with livelihood opportunities is key to curbing violence targeting women and girls,” said Thakral.

WFP plans to distribute 57 metric tons of food to support 11,000 children and pregnant or breastfeeding women at risk of severe malnutrition.

On 9 February, the residents of Bulengo camp near Goma were told to leave within 72 hours by M23 – their second displacement in a matter of weeks, for they were among 700,000 uprooted when the city fell to the armed group in January.

“We’re afraid to return home,” said Tumusifu, a mother of six, at the time. “There is still fighting in our home village. We are hungry and do not have money to help ourselves.”

She added: “We’re waiting alongside the road because we do not know where to go.” (She and her family have since joined thousands who have returned to villages “where there is still fighting.”)

“Food is our biggest need right now. Some children are starving to death. There are no medicines because the clinics are closed.”

Another young mother, Francoise, fled the displacement camp she lived in near Goma with five of her children in one direction, while her husband fled in another with the couple’s sixth child.

“I’m currently taking shelter in a school, and we’ve not seen each other since,” she said. “Our lives are now even more challenging than they were in the camps. The most difficult thing for us is the scarcity of food and the lack of water. We have no access to a health centre.”

“What is happening now is scaring people and causing so much confusion,” said Francine. “Out of fear, we are now dismantling our huts and returning to where we came from.

But we have no houses back home – they are already demolished or burned down. As you can see, all our belongings are alongside the road… we need peace and unity.”

Amid all the hardship, people’s dreams of returning to the homes they had before they were forced to live in displacement camps are intact. 

“We will not choose a life of displacement over the peace of our homeland,” said Tumusifu. “Even if we have lost everything – farms, livestock – we have the skills to restart.”